Mark Harmon, officially 74 years old on September 2, is one of those stars that has been in the spotlight for so long you'd think he's a mythical figure by now. He's the son of former Heisman Trophy-winning athlete and prominent sports broadcaster Tom Harmon and actress, model and fashion designer Elyse Knox. And the star proudly carried forward the legacy of both his parents, starting with a notable early career in his dad's sport — football.
Following an idyllic childhood growing up in Los Angeles, graduating in 1970, Mark first completed a two-year associate degree at Pierce College in LA, playing football with them for two seasons. During that time, he earned enough plaudits to be later inducted into the inaugural class of the Pierce College Athletic Hall of Fame and get scouted by several top varsity teams.
After concluding his second season at Pierce, Mark chose to transfer to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) over the University of Oklahoma, joining the UCLA Bruins. He played as a quarterback for the Bruins in both the 1972 and 1973 season, and immediately established himself as a star for a team on the decline.
Photos from the era capture the future TV and film star's days on the field, with many of them also showing him proudly flanked by his father Tom. The senior Harmon handled play-by-play broadcasts for the Bruins during the '60s and '70s, proudly watching and reporting from the sidelines as his son arrived as the team's starting quarterback.
One particular snap captures the father-son duo prior to a Bruins game in September 1972. A 21-year-old Mark rocked his footballer's body, a bulky, athletic build, one mirroring his father's after years on the field as well. The pair wore matching Lacoste polos, with Mark holding a football in his hands, and also sporting a thick side-swept bang, an appropriate hairstyle for the time.
In his senior year with UCLA, Mark received the National Football Foundation Award for All-Round Excellence, with his team compiling a 17-5 wishbone offense record during his time there. He graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Communications in 1974, although was not picked in the 1974 NFL draft. Soon after college, though, he found himself drawn to the world of acting.
Mark made his screen debut as an actor in a 1973 episode of Ozzie's Girls, thanks to his sister Kristin's in-laws, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. He made continual one-episode appearances in a variety of TV shows until nabbing a recurring role in the show Sam in 1978, followed by others like 240-Robert, Flamingo Road and The Love Boat.
His claim to fame came in 1983 when he was cast as Dr. Robert Caldwell in the popular medical drama St. Elsewhere, inhabiting the role until 1986. His other major TV roles include Reasonable Doubts and Chicago Hope, and then appearing in the movie Freaky Friday in 2003 the same year he was cast as Leroy Jethro Gibbs in NCIS, following a brief cameo as the character in JAG.